TITLE:
Assessment of the Counselling Needs of Distance Education Students in a Ghanaian Public University
AUTHORS:
Lydia Aframea Dankyi, Esther Amprofi Boham, Joyce Kwakyewaa Dankyi, Felix Senyametor, Godwin Awabil
KEYWORDS:
Counselling, Educational Needs, Personal-Social Needs, Practical Needs, Career Needs, Distance Education Students
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.10 No.5,
May
30,
2022
ABSTRACT: Needs assessment is a prerequisite for developing comprehensive and
relevant counselling services for students. This study investigated the
counselling needs of distance students, focusing on the diploma students of the
College of Distance Education of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. The
descriptive design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was
36,798 with a sample size of 1110. Purposive, stratified and simple random
sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. The instrument used
for the data collection was the questionnaire. The data were analysed, using
descriptive (means and standard deviations) and inferential (independent
samples t-test and ANOVA) statistics. The study revealed that the most
important counselling needs of students were related to how to meet deadlines,
how to prepare and attend job interviews and how to relate well with lecturers.
The study also showed that the marital status and programme of study were
significant determinants of the counselling needs of students. Based on the
findings of the study, it was recommended that the Management of the College of
Distance Education at the University of Cape Coast should ensure that
counselling services be based on the most prevalent counselling needs of the
students.